Ian Somerhalder stars in The CW’s hit drama, “The Vampire Diaries” as Damon Salvatore, the elder and far more dangerous of the two brothers who share a long and bitter history. For his portrayal of Damon, Somerhalder has received multiple Teen Choice Awards, including four consecutive wins for “Choice TV Actor Fantasy/Sci-Fi.” The show returned for its sixth season this fall.
In April 2014, Somerhalder appeared in Emmy Award-winning Showtime docu-series, “Years of Living Dangerously,” from executive producers Jerry Weintraub, James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Focusing on global climate change, the series also included interviews and commentary from Matt Damon, America Ferrera, Lesley Stahl, and Harrison Ford among others. Additionally, Somerhalder can currently be seen as the face of Azzaro Pour Homme, the luxury fashion brand’s new men’s fragrance.
Somerhalder is well known for his role as Boone on J.J. Abrams’ critically acclaimed drama “Lost.” He won the 2005 SAG Award as part of “Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series” and “Lost” won the 2005 Emmy Award for “Best Television Series - Drama.” The show was also nominated for the 2004 Golden Globe Award and the 2004 People’s Choice Award. Somerhalder returned to “Lost” for several episodes during its final season.
Somerhalder’s other television credits include HBO’s “Tell Me You Love Me,” a leading role in The WB series “Young Americans,” and guest starring roles in “CSI,” “CSI: Miami,” “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Smallville.”
His film credits include, “The Anomaly”, written by Simon Lewis and directed by Noel Clarke; “Time Framed”, a short film series he produced with SinMedia Factory; Ellen Kanor’s “The Wake”; “Sensation of Sight,” opposite David Strathairn and Jane Adams; Jim Sonzero’s “Pulse”; “The Rules of Attraction,” opposite James Van Der Beek, Kate Bosworth, Kip Pardue and Jessica Biel; Irwin Winkler’s “Life as a House,” opposite Hayden Christensen, Kevin Kline and Kristen Scott Thomas; Martin Guigui’s “Changing Hearts,” opposite Lauren Holly and Faye Dunaway; and Tony Giglio’s “In Enemy Hands,” opposite William H. Macy, Jeremy Sisto and Scott Caan.
On stage, Somerhalder starred off-Broadway in Trip Cullman’s “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead,” an “unauthorized parody” of Charles Schulz’ comic strip “Peanuts” that follows the travails of a grown up Charlie Brown and the original gang as their beloved beagle dies. Somerhalder co-starred with Eddie Kaye Thomas, Eliza Dushku, America Ferrera, Ari Graynor and Logan Marshall-Green.
In 2010, Somerhalder launched The Ian Somerhalder Foundation, which aims to educate, empower and collaborate with people and projects that positively impact our planet and its creatures. Through his role as founder and president, Somerhalder strives to create awareness for environmental and animal rights related issues, focusing specifically on the environment, creatures and clean energy initiatives. In 2011, ISF co-partnered with the Alliance for Global Conservation to create Planet Green’s “Blue August,” a week-long series that explored the wonders of the ocean and aquatic life. Ian served as an online and on-camera guide for the documentary and traveled to Trinidad and Tobago to film the life cycle of sea turtles. Currently, ISF is working on developing its own Animal Sanctuary dedicated to misfit and outcast pets, as well as other animals. Ian also serves on the advisory board of RYOT.org, a breaking news site that lets you take action on every story that is posted. In 2014 Somerhalder was named as United Nations Environmental Program Goodwill Ambassador.
